15 Ways to Get Your First Engaged Program Member Thank You

15 ways to get your first engaged program member. 1. Send a program launch email Promotion is the key to getting customers to engage with your rewards program, and email is best way to do it. Give customers an idea of what they can expect by joining with a general overview of how your program works. You can send this email with any email service provider – just make sure it prompts customers to join with a clear call-to-action that takes them to your account creation/registration page! Pro tips: • Clearly announce that you’ve started a rewards program • Tell them how they can earn & redeem points • Use colors, logos, and images to connect your program to the rest of your brand Why we love it: Customers are told how the program works in 3 easy steps through a combination of text, icons, and photography. This email also includes a clear CTA at the bottom to make registration quick and easy. Take action: Learn how to run an effective launch email campaign with our expert guide. GET THE GUIDE Example: Mark Bell Slingshot 2. Reach out to your best existing customers Your existing customers are extremely important when it comes to strengthening your rewards program! Set each of your existing customers up with a starting points balance and send them a personalized email to let them know about your program. As a current customer, they’re going to be excited to have the opportunity to get more involved with your brand and will appreciate you taking the time to tell them about it. Pro tips: • Address customers by name to make the message more personal • Thank them for their business and support • Include a clear CTA that invites them to join right away Take action: Set your existing customers up with a points balance in minutes. IMPORT POINTS Why we love it: Customers are both thanked for creating an account and told they’ve earned points and a $10 reward that they can apply immediately, making the rewards program feel like an integral part of the customer experience. Example: Mpix 3. Add a call-toaction to your homepage Your homepage is the most high traffic area of your site, making it the perfect place to promote your rewards program. Whether you choose to include a banner at the top of the page or integrate it into other promotional images, use exciting colors and lots of images to grab your customers’ attention and get them excited to join. Pro tips: • Clearly announce that you’ve started a rewards program • Include a link to your explainer page • Keep it simple Take action: Find out more about where you should be promoting your rewards program on your site. LEARN MORE Why we love it: Clearly announces the new program and invites customers to learn more about it with a clear CTA. Example: Sporter 4. Brand your customer panel & program launcher Your brand is one of your most valuable assets because it sets you apart from your competitors. It’s also part of what made your customers choose to shop with you in the first place! Customize your rewards experience with colors, photography, and icons that are uniquely yours to help integrate it into the rest of your brand experience. Creating a seamless transition from one part of your online experience to the next will strengthen the bond between your program and the rest of your brand. This makes your program an exciting extension of your brand experience – not an afterthought! Pro tips: • Use colors that complement the rest of your website • Show off what makes your brand unique with branded photography • Design a loyalty logo that’s similar but recognizably different from your store logo Why we love it: Uses beautiful photography and colors that mimics the rest of their website design to seamlessly incorporate their rewards program into the browsing experience. Take action: Customize your rewards experience from top to bottom. BRAND YOUR PROGRAM Example: Sparkle in Pink 5. Promote on social media Social media is an incredibly powerful tool to use in combination with your rewards program. Since so many customers are already spending time there, it’s a great way to get your program in front of an incredibly large audience at no cost to you. Create excitement around your program by teasing its launch on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Follow these posts up with clear program announcements that link to your account creation or registration page to make joining as easy as sharing a status update. Pro tips: • Highlight your amazing rewards to get customers excited about joining • Include a link to your account creation page in your bio • Use visuals to make your posts stand out in your customers’ newsfeeds Why we love it: Promotes new program with a variety of searchable hashtags while making the value of participating easy to see and understand. Take action: Discover 3 ways that you can leverage social media for your rewards program. Example: Heima Market LEARN MORE 6. Reward customers for joining Customers want to join reward programs that show them value upfront, which means you need to make signing up worthwhile. Welcome points are the perfect solution that’s not only cost-effective for you but also highly valuable for your customers. By moving them that much closer to their first reward, you make it easy for them to visualize how rewarding being an engaged member of your program will be. This will motivate them to get engaged sooner and perform more valuable actions at your store. Pro tips: • Advertise your welcome points on your homepage or the welcome card of your customer panel • Give away enough points to get customers at least 50% of the way to their first reward Take action: Set up your own Signup reward. Example: ivory ella SET UP REWARD Why we love it: Thanks to this bright and colorful email, customers immediately see the benefits of signing up for ivory ella’s program. 7. Come up with a unique program name Your program’s name sets the tone for your new customers and has the power to encourage them to participate. That’s why choosing a name is so important! In order to maximize engagement, you should make your program sound exclusive, exciting, and worthwhile. The best way to do that is by inspiring an emotion that aligns with your brand and the products you sell. You can also name your program after your rewards currency. This will clearly communicate the value of joining your program while still making your program fun and approachable. Pro tips: • Establish an emotion • Incorporate your rewards currency • Use alliteration or humor to make it more memorable Take action: Explore more amazing creative program and currency name examples. Example: Singer Featherweight GET THE GUIDE Why we love it: With a nod to the products they sell, Singer Featherweight’s program name is the perfect combination of humor and class that makes customers feel like members of an exclusive high society club. 8. Offer rewards that appeal to your target audience Customers don’t join your program to earn points — they join to earn rewards. If your customers don’t find the rewards you’re offering valuable, they won’t be motivated to participate in your program. Build a rewards menu that offers a variety of ways to redeem points. Include a combination of transactional and experiential rewards to make sure that every customer who shops with you can find something they love to redeem their points for. This will motivate more of your customers to get and stay engaged with your program. Pro tips: • Make free shipping a standard reward to motivate more customers to complete purchases • Add new rewards to your program periodically to keep it fresh and exciting • Offer experiential rewards to deepen emotional relationships with customers Take action: Set up your program’s Spending Rules. Example: RSP Nutrition SET UP REWARDS Why we love it: Whether customers are looking for branded swag, free shipping, or savings on their favorite products, RSP Nutrition makes it possible for them to earn the reward that appeals most to them. 9. Build a program explainer page If you want customers to get engaged with your rewards program, you need to show them how. An explainer page is a dedicated page on your website designed to answer the 3 most important questions a customer will have about your program: • What’s in it for me? • How do I earn rewards? • Where do I sign up? Answering these questions with lots of visuals and easy-to-read text will make it much more likely that customers will understand your program and get excited to join. Pro tips: • Make it very visual • Use consistent branding • Show customers what they can earn to highlight the value of joining Take action: Build your own fantastic explainer page. Example: Run Everything Labs LEARN MORE Why we love it: Between the awesome explainer video, VIP tier breakdown, and rewards menu, Run Everything Labs covers every aspect of their rewards program in a clean, fully branded experience on their program page. 10. Reward a few customers with bonus points Bonus points are a great way to add an extra layer of delight to your customer experience, and are a fantastic way to recognize some of your best customers. Identify which of your customers have engaged the most with your brand and send them an email letting them know that they’ve received some points as a gift. This small gesture can go a long way to get your existing members more excited about your program and, as a result, spreading the word about the value of participating. Pro tips: • Keep the reward exclusive by limiting it to 5% of your total customer base • Give away enough points to get customers close to redeeming their next reward • Connect with each individual with a personalized email Take action: Surprise some of your best customers with bonus points. Example: One Love Organics IMPORT BONUS POINTS Why we love it: One Love Organics keeps the message short and sweet, combining the bonus points announcement with more important information about their status in the love club program. 11. Include program materials with every order The way that you package your products can have a big impact on your complete customer experience — including your rewards program! Every order you fulfill is a great opportunity to get your rewards program in front of new and returning customers, so take advantage of it by including program promo materials inside every package. These materials could include: • Stickers • Brochures • Cards • Etc. Pro tips: • Keep it simple • Use consistent branding • Highlight benefits of joining your program Example: Reunion Island Coffee Roasters Why we love it: Beautifully branded and clearly organized, this small card treats customers like a friend and clearly outlines all of the awesome perks of joining the Roasted Rewards program. 12. Make your first reward easy to earn Nobody will want to join your program if the rewards you’re offering are too hard to earn. Lower the barrier to entry by making your first reward relatively easy to achieve. You can do this by either lowering the number of points required to redeem or making a number of earning actions easy to complete. This will make your program look more valuable up front to prospective members and help them visualize earning that first incredible reward. Pro tips: • Use welcome points to help push customers towards their first reward • Lower the number of points required to redeem your lowest reward Take action: Make sure your lowest reward is within reach. Example: Glow Recipe ASSESS YOUR REWARDS Why we love it: Customers are halfway to their first reward after simply signing up for the program, motivating them to make one purchase or engage on social media to unlock their first reward. 13. Reward customers for easy actions If you want customers to join your program, you need to make earning rewards fun and easy! You can do this by giving customers a variety of simple ways to earn points, such as: • Signing up • Celebrating a birthday • Engaging on social media Each of these actions are easy to complete and understand, making it easy to get engaged and stay engaged over a longer period of time. Pro tips: • Reward customers for signing up to make your program valuable upfront • Include at least one social reward to expand your marketing reach • Build emotional relationships with birthday rewards Take action: Set up more exciting ways for your customers to earn points. Example: Erin Condren SET UP EARNING RULES Why we love it: From social media to birthdays to simply signing up, Erin Condren has made it easy for customers to get involved and earn points at every stage in their relationship with the brand. 14. Run a bonus points campaign A bonus points campaign is an effective way to boost your program engagement rate because it helps customers discover the value of your program quicker. By rewarding customers with more points per action for a limited time, you motivate them to participate by making your best rewards more achievable. This, combined with the fact that bonus points are only available for a limited time, encourages customers to join your program as a way to earn the awesome rewards you’re offering. After all, they don’t want to miss out! Pro tips: • Promote your bonus points campaign as a celebration of your program launch • Run your campaign for no more than 3 days to make it feel more valuable • Promote your campaign onsite, through email, and on social media Take action: Run your own successful bonus points event. LEARN HOW Example: Strivectin Why we love it: Lets customers know how many more points they can earn during the promotion with a great summary of other program benefits. Including this information beautifully ties the bonus points campaign to the value of the rest of the program. 15. Build an exciting brand community The best way to get your first engaged program member is by building a community they want to be a part of. Your rewards program is the perfect tool to start and continue building real, emotional relationships with your best customers that help them feel a part of something bigger and better than themselves. By combining your program’s forces with tools like social media, email marketing, and content, you set you and your brand up to deliver an unbeatable customer experience that’s inviting, exciting, and attractive to anyone who comes in contact with your brand. Pro tips: • Reward customers for referring their friends to your store • Design an online experience that’s accessible and on brand • Use experiential rewards to foster emotional relationships Take action: Discover how Evy’s Tree strengthened their community with rewards. LEARN MORE Example: Evy’s Tree Why we love it: Evy’s Tree used a rewards program to enrich their existing brand community through a combination of engaging earning rules and fabulous rewards. Contact Information. [email protected] 1-855-699-9322 Visit us at smile.io Author Information. Kirsten Burkard @kirstenburkard